Chapter 12: Mongol Eurasia And Its Aftermath

Question 1

What was the Mongol way of life, and how were decisions ratified?

Answer 1

They were nomadic and pastoral. They had a council with representatives from powerful families who ratified decisions.

Question 2

How did Genghis Khan expand and control territories?

Answer 2

Warfare: catapults, horses, crossbows, iron weapons

They controlled territory by making them pay tribute.

Question 3

What happened to the Mongol Empire in 1265?

Answer 3

It split up after Khublai Khan announced himself as Great Khan

Question 4

What was the impact of Marco Polo’s narratives in Europe?

Answer 4

They promoted trade interest with China, which eventually led to an easier route. They also gained knowledge about gunpowder, moveable type, bronze cannons, metallurgy, math, and astronomy.

“Marco Polo (born c. 1254, Venice [Italy]—died January 8, 1324, Venice) was a Venetian merchant and adventurer who traveled from Europe to Asia in 1271–95, remaining in China for 17 of those years.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marco-Polo/Sojourn-in-China

Question 5

Why was there conflict between the Il-Khans and the Golden Khanate?

Answer 5

Mongol forces sacked Baghdad and formed the Il-Khan. They killed the last Abassid Caliph, and the Golden Horde, who were Muslims, wanted revenge. The Il-Khans later converted to Islam.

“Mongol forces sacked Baghdad, the jewel of the Abbasid Caliphate, in 1258. Under the direction of Hulegu Khan, still another grandson of Genghis Khan, the Mongols defeated Muslim forces in modern-day Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Hulegu came to control all of Iran and founded the Il-khan Dynasty. (Il-khan means subordinate khan in Persian.)” https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/mongol-horde-unstoppable-force/9th-grade/

“Golden Horde, Russian designation for the Ulus Juchi, the western part of the Mongol empire, which flourished from the mid-13th century to the end of the 14th century. The people of the Golden Horde were a mixture of Turks and Mongols, with the latter generally constituting the aristocracy.” https://www.britannica.com/place/Golden-Horde

Question 6

Who attacked Muslim sultanates in Delhi?

Answer 6

Timur, the Khan of the Jagadai Khanate.

“Timur (born 1336, Kesh, near Samarkand, Transoxania [now in Uzbekistan]—died February 19, 1405, Otrar, near Chimkent [now Shymkent, Kazakhstan]) was a Turkic conqueror, chiefly remembered for the barbarity of his conquests from India and Russia to the Mediterranean Sea and for the cultural achievements of his dynasty.

Timur was a member of the Turkicized Barlas tribe, a Mongol subgroup that had settled in Transoxania (now roughly corresponding to Uzbekistan) after taking part in Genghis Khan’s son Chagatai’s campaigns in that region. Timur thus grew up in what was known as the Chagatai khanate.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Timur

“Battle of Delhi, (17 December 1398). In 1398 the Mongol-Turkish warrior Timur, ruler of Central Asia from his capital at Samarkand, found a pretext to strike south into India. His victory over the sultan of Delhi confirmed the irresistible fighting qualities of his army and the awesome destructiveness that made him a legend of cruelty.

A devout Muslim, Timur alleged that his co-religionist Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud of Delhi was being too lenient toward his Hindu subjects.” https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Delhi-1398

Question 7

What is tax farming?

Answer 7

The selling of contracts to corporations who in turn get to keep extra money that is not given to the government.

“Similar to the contemporary concept of privatization, tax farming is a poorly understood phenomenon in Middle Eastern history. It is often linked to the abuse of state power and debates on the institutional causes of the fall of premodern Islamic states. In essence, however, tax farming refers to any type of tax collection conducted by private individuals rather than salaried state personnel. These individuals acquire the right, often by auction, to collect a defined revenue for a specific period of time.

[…]

There are few comprehensive studies of tax farming during the period between the Abbasids and the Mongols, though Middle Eastern states contracted out to private agents many types of taxes, both those that were Islamically recognized and those that were not.” https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/tax-farming

Question 8

What were some Timurid advancements?

Answer 8

Astronomy. Timurid was in a trade crossroads, so there was cultural flourishing.

Question 9

Who attempted to write the world’s first history?

Answer 9

Rashid al-Din of the Il-Khan

Question 10

Who were Stephan Dushan, Alexander Nevskii, and Ivan III?

Answer 10

They were important historical leaders in Eastern Europe before, during, and after the time of the Mongols.

• Stephan Dushan (Dušan): declared himself leader of eastern Europe during the collapse of the Byzantine.

“Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, and Albanians
With the death of Andronicus III in 1341, the Byzantine Empire once more fell prey to family quarrels and civil war. Dušan, arriving before the gates of Salonica, received an unexpected ally in John Cantacuzenus, the late emperor’s general, who took up arms against the regents of the young successor, John V Palaeologus, and proclaimed himself emperor. Dušan aided the Byzantine pretender, but their alliance broke up in 1343, and they became bitter enemies. On his own, Dušan conquered Albania and a greater part of Macedonia in the same year. After conquering the stubbornly defended city of Seres in the fall of 1345, Dušan began to call himself ‘Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, and Albanians.’ He was crowned emperor in April 1346.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stefan-Dusan

• Alexander Nevskii: the prince of Novogorod. He persuaded some fellow princes to submit to the Mongols.

“Saint Alexander Nevsky, (born c. 1220, Vladimir, Grand Principality of Vladimir—died Nov. 14, 1263, Gorodets), Prince of Novgorod (1236–52) and Kiev (1246–52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252–63). He fought off invading Swedes in 1240 at the Neva River (resulting in the epithet Nevsky). He was called back to service to defeat the Teutonic Knights in 1242 and also won victories over the Lithuanians and Finns. He collaborated with the Golden Horde in imposing Mongol rule on Russia, and the Great Khan made him grand prince of Vladimir. Alexander continued to rule Novgorod through his son. He helped the Mongols impose taxes, interceding with the Khan to prevent reprisals when rebellions broke out. A national hero, he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox church.” https://www.britannica.com/summary/Saint-Alexander-Nevsky

• Ivan III (“The Great”): prince of Moscow who established himself as an autocratic ruler in the late 1400s.

“Ivan III, known as Ivan the Great, (born Jan. 22, 1440, Moscow—died Oct. 27, 1505, Moscow), Grand prince of Moscow (1462–1505). Determined to enlarge the territory he inherited from his father, Ivan led successful military campaigns against the Tatars in the south (1458) and east (1467–69). He subdued Novgorod (1478) and gained control of most of the remainder of Great Russia by 1485. He also renounced Moscow’s subjection to the khan of the Golden Horde (1480) and won a final victory over the khan’s sons in 1502. Stripping the boyars of much of their authority, he laid the administrative foundations of a centralized Russian state. Ivan IV the Terrible was his grandson.” https://www.britannica.com/summary/Ivan-III

Question 11

How did the Mongols affect the Russian Orthodox Church?

Answer 11

They cooperated, so the Orthodox Church got priveleges.

Question 12

What was the impact of the Mongols on Yuan China?

Answer 12

They permanently reunited the Song territories, city populations increased, the capital was moved to Beijing. The Mongols were at the top of the social hierarchy.

Question 13

How did the Ming emperors show rejection of the Mongols?

Answer 13

They cut off trade.

Question 14

Why did Ming economy suffer after Yongle?

Answer 14

There was no emphasis on merchants. Confucian ideology was reinstated, and there was less trade and commercial development.

Question 15

What were the commercial products and literature of the Ming?

Answer 15

• Porcelain, furniture, screens, and silk.
• Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong

Question 16

What were some Yi Korea advancements?

Answer 16

cotton, movable type, bronze cannons, gunpowder, printing, and literacy.

Question 17

What was the relationship between the Mongols and the Koryo family like?

Answer 17

The Koryo became linked to the Great Khan by marriage.

Question 18

What stopped the Mongols from invading Japan? What was the impact of this?

Answer 18

A typhoon/kamikaze (“divine wind”).

“The Mongol invasions of Japan took place in 1274 and 1281 CE when Kublai Khan (r. 1260-1294 CE) sent two huge fleets from Korea and China. In both cases, the Japanese, and especially the samurai warriors, vigorously defended their shores but it would be typhoon storms and the so-called kamikaze or ‘divine winds’ which sank and drowned countless ships and men, thus saving Japan from foreign conquest. The whole glorious episode, which mixed divine intervention with martial heroism, would gain and hold mythical status in Japanese culture forever after.” https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1415/the-mongol-invasions-of-japan-1274–1281-ce/

This led to a more centralized government that focused more on military.

Question 19

What was the original religion of the Mongols?

Answer 19

Shamanism- rituals in which special individuals influenced/ visited the supernatural world. They believed in world leadership by a khan, who could speak to/ for an ultimate god.
Most families believed in 2 or more religions.

Question 20

What happened after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227?

Answer 20

His son Ogodei continued to assault China. He destroyed the Tanggut and Jin.

Question 21

Who attacked the Kievian Rus (Russia) in 1240?

Answer 21

“Batu (died c. 1255, Russia) was the grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of the Khanate of Kipchak, or the Golden Horde.

In 1235 Batu was elected commander in chief of the western part of the Mongol empire and was given responsibility for the invasion of Europe. By 1240 he had conquered all of Russia.”

He went on to conquer central Europe and was poised to devastate western Europe when Ogedai died. Wanting to be considered as his successor, Batu was required to withdraw his army.

He established the Golden Horde in southern Russia, which lasted for the next 200 years.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Batu-Mongol-ruler

Question 22

Mongol unity began to unravel after whose death in 1241? What happened?

Answer 22

Ogodei’s death. Kublai declared himself the Great Khan, and the other family members did not accept this.

“The Mongols were a parvenu nomadic power. Before Genghis Khan consolidated them under his centralized control in 1206, they were no more than a group of largely autonomous tribes, more or less unknown to recorded history. Except for some organized hunting and the management of their herds, they had little experience of economic activity. Until a few years before Kublai’s birth, they were illiterate. They had almost no experience in statecraft prior to the establishment of the Yuan, and concepts such as the taxation of urban societies were brought to their attention by their foreign advisers, upon whom they relied heavily.

The Mongols’ limited political competence contributed much to the relatively rapid collapse of their empire; Yuan control of the whole of China lasted less than a century. With a few outstanding exceptions, such as Kublai himself (whom the Mongols always called Setsen Khan, the ‘Wise Khan’), the rulers of the Mongols seem to have looked on power as a personal, or at most a family, possession to be exploited for immediate gain. Hence, except in areas like China where there was a firm native political tradition, they never succeeded in organizing a durable state. In China, too, everything depended ultimately on the willpower and ability of the ruler.”

Kublai went on to understand that, to maintain continued influence over China, the Mongols would have to change their way of life, i.e. adopt Chinese customs, or become alienated from their subjects, who would inevitably overthrow them. (Presumably, the Mongols who didn’t support him weren’t willing to do this.) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kublai-Khan

Question 23

What happened to cities that resisted Mongol attack?

Answer 23

Mass slaughter and starvation. Surrendering gave them food, shelter, and protection. The Mongols used bloodletting to spread terror, so it was easier to persuade cities to surrender.

Question 24

After the Mongols murdered the last caliph, what happened?

Answer 24

Batu, who had established the Golden Horde, converted to Islam and said he would avenge the last caliph which led to a conflict between the Il-Khan and Golden Horde. Ghazan of the Il-Khans became Muslim in 1295, which resolved the conflict.

Question 25

The Il-Khans used tax farming to extract maximum wealth which led to what?

Answer 25

Many landowners were driven into debt and servitude. Agriculture and tax base decreased, and the Il-Khans eventually sank into a depression.

Question 26

Who was Timur and what did he do?

Answer 26

He was the leader of the Khanate of Jagadai. He launched campaigns into Eurasia, and saw himself as the new Genghis Khan. He was an in-law, so he couldn’t assume the title Khan.
He sacked the Muslim sultanate of Delhi
defeated the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia
His descendants-Timurids- didn’t hold the empire together, and laid the groundwork for the Mughals.

Question 27

Who was Nasir al-Din Tusi?

Answer 27

A Shi’ite scholar. He began the Mongol interest in science traditions of Muslim lands.

“Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (born Feb. 18, 1201, Ṭūs, Khorāsān [now Iran]—died June 26, 1274, Baghdad, Iraq) was an outstanding Persian philosopher, scientist, and mathematician.

Educated first in Ṭūs, where his father was a jurist in the Twelfth Imam school, the main sect of Shīʾite Muslims, al-Ṭūsī finished his education in Neyshābūr, about 75 kilometres (50 miles) to the west. This was no doubt a prudent move as Genghis Khan (d. 1227), having conquered Beijing in 1215, turned his attention to the Islamic world and reached the region around Ṭūs by 1220. In about 1227 the Ismāʿīlīte governor Nāṣir al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥīm offered al-Ṭūsī sanctuary in his mountain fortresses in Khorāsān. Al-Ṭūsī in turn dedicated his most famous work, Akhlāq-i nāṣirī (1232; Nasirean Ethics), to the governor before being invited to stay in the capital at Alamūt, where he espoused the Ismāʿīlīte faith under the new imam, Alauddin Muḥammad (reigned 1227–1255). (This Ismāʿīlīte state began in 1090 with the conquest of Alamūt by Ḥasan-e Ṣabbāḥ and ended with the fall of the city to the Mongols in 1256.) During this period, al-Ṭūsī wrote on Ismāʿīlīte theology (Taṣawwurāt; “Notions”), logic (Asās al-iqtibās; “Foundations of Inference”), and mathematics (Taḥrīr al-Majisṭī; ‘Commentary on the Almagest’).

With the fall in 1256 of Alamūt to Hülegü Khan (c. 1217–1265), grandson of Genghis Khan, al-Ṭūsī immediately accepted a position with the Mongols as a scientific adviser. (The alacrity with which he went to work for them fueled accusations that his conversion to the Ismāʿīlīte faith was feigned, as well as rumours that he betrayed the city’s defenses.) Al-Ṭūsī married a Mongol and was then put in charge of the ministry of religious bequests. The topic of whether al-Ṭūsī accompanied the Mongol capture of Baghdad in 1258 remains controversial, although he certainly visited nearby Shīʾite centres soon afterward.” https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nasir-al-Din-al-Tusi

Question 28

What were Mongol advancements?

Answer 28

astronomy, calendar, eclipse prediction, use of epicycles, adopted Indian numerical system

Question 29

After the defeat of the Russian and Kipchak army in 1223, what happened to the Golden Horde?

Answer 29

It began as a unified state but fragmented into smaller khanates. It ruled Russian domains from afar, and gave the Orthodox Church privileges. Russian princes were enlisted as agents, tax collectors, and census takers.

Question 30

What was the Mongol effect on Russia?

Answer 30

Bubonic Plague, Ukraine suffered severe population loss as the Mongols passed through.

Question 31

What did the Ottoman Empire do in the late 1300s?

Answer 31

They established themselves in Anatolia and crossed into Europe to take part in the dynastic struggles of a declining Byzantine Empire. They were defeated by Timur in 1402. In 1453 Sultan Mehmet II captured Constantinople and ended the Byzantine Empire. Ottoman sultans seized political opportunity of the decay of Mongol power, and created new states with a strong emphasis on religious and linguistic identity.

Question 32

What were lamas and who were they popular with?

Answer 32

They were the Buddhist priests from Tibet. They were popular with some Mongol rulers in the 1200s-1300s.

Question 33

What were the social rankings of Yuan China?

Answer 33

1. Mongols- warriors
2. Central Asians and Middle Easterners- census takers and tax collectors.
3. Northern Chinese- under Mongol control earlier than southern Chinese
4. Southern Chinese

Question 34

What led to the decline of the Yuan?

Answer 34

There was war and overtaxation. Farmers were evicted and were heavily taxed. Female infanticide, southward movement of people fleeing the Mongols, Yellow River flooding, Bubonic Plague.

In the 1340s there were power contests among Mongol princes. Chinese leader Zhu Yuanzhang destroyed the Yuan and brought China under the control of the Ming Empire.

Question 35

What occured after the establishment of Ming China?

Answer 35

Relations with the Mongols were ended, and there were limited imports and foreign visitors. The Ming government gradually came to resemble that of the Yuan.

Question 36

Who was Zheng He and what did he do?

Answer 36

He was a trusted imperial eunuch in Ming China. He went on a naval expedition and added 50 new tributary states.

Question 37

What was the Mongol effect on Japan and Annam?

Answer 37

They escaped became more effective and expansive

Question 38

What was the Mongol effect on Korea?

Answer 38

They were conquered and gained interest in their own language and history